A protester is removed from Donald Trumps rally on Tuesday night in Youngstown, Ohio, while the president was speaking to some of his fans

'But – no, but here's the problem,' he detoured. 'If I did it joking – totally joking, having fun – the fake news media will say, "He believes he should be on Mt. Rushmore!" So I won't say it, okay? I won't say it.'

'But every president – they'll say it anyway! You watch, tomorrow: "Trump thinks he should be on Mt. Rushmore! Isn't that terrible!"

'What a group,' the president scolded as about 200 members of the press corps looked on. 'What a dishonest group of people, I'll tell you.'

Trump also repeated on Tuesday night the themes of a landmark August 2016 address he delivered on immigration reform, another campaign moment he brought to Youngstown.

Calling for a 'merit-based' system similar to Canada's, Trump's bottom line remained steadfast from last year's.

Donald Trump grins and looks rather pleased with himself while standing behind the podium during his rally on Tuesday

Trump appears to be blowing a kiss to someone in the crowd while one of his supporters speaks at the Ohio rally

A police officer is pictured pushing a protester out of the Trump event on Tuesday night while the man held up an anti-Trump sign

Donald Trump pulls a face while speaking to his fans in Youngstown, Ohio, on Tuesday night during an election-style rally

Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump take the stage for a rally with supporters in Youngstown, Ohio, on Tuesday night

'Those seeking to emigrate into our country should be able to support themselves financially, and should not be able to use welfare for themselves or their household for a peroiod of at least five years,' he declared.

The sixth campaign-style rally of his presidency drew fans from the working-class base that propelled him to the White House.

The billionaire Trump's presentation was a mashup of the themes that soaked through the last two months of the topsy-turvy 2016 campaign.

'In America we don't worship government,' he said in a Reaganesque flourish. 'We worship God.'

'We will never be silenced by the media,' Trump vowed.

And the president pledged to defend America's borders. (Cue the shouts of 'Build that wall!')

'Don't even think about it. We will build the wall!' he insisted to cheers.

Shortly after starting his speech, Trump turned to the crowd to watch as a protester was taken away during the event

Donald Trump is pictured waiting to be introduced by first lady Melania at a rally with supporters in an arena in Youngstown, Ohio

Donald Trump makes a gesture with his hand as he speaks at Youngstown, Ohio, during a rally for his fans on Tuesday night

Omarosa Manigault (L), Eric Trump (2nd R) and his wife Lara Trump (2nd L) and first lady Melania Trump take their seats at the side of the stage in Ohio

Omarosa Manigault, adviser to US President Donald Trump, arrives for a Make America Great Again rally at the Covelli Centre in Youngstown

Trump reiterated his long-term pledges to tilt the North American Free Trade Agreement in America's favor, to levy reciprocal border tariffs on trading partners and to watchdog Iran as it tiptoes on the edge of compliance with a nuclear deal.

He boasted about efforts to 'liberate our towns and cities' from MS-13 and other criminal gangs and prosecure his war on 'sanctuary' cities that shield illegal immigrants.

Just like the two years' worth of Trump rally-goers before them, they roared when protesters were led out.

Lara Trump, the president's daughter-in-law, was the first to be interrupted as she warmed up the crowd.

'I must be special to have a protester already!' she exclaimed.

And Lara, more than six months pregnant, lectured the media like her husband Eric's famous father.

As shouts of 'Fake news' rose to the rafters, she declared that 'the same people touting this crazy Russia story are the ones who gave us the fake polls ... the same people who said there was no path to victory for Donald Trump.'

Tuesday's Ohio visit follows similar rallies since Inauguration Day in Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Iowa.

Youngstown's 5,900-seat Covelli Centre, the president's venue of choice – supplemented with more than 2,000 floor seats on Tuesday – hosted a Bernie Sanders rally last year. Trump opted for a quick-land rally at the regional airport.

Donald Trump is pictured waving to a crowd after landing at Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport on Tuesday afternoon

The president and first lady are pictured together at the top of the stairs on Air Force One shortly after landing in Ohio

One MAGA-fan of the president's decked out his SUV in American flags and every Trump-themed sticker or sign he could find ahead of Tuesday's rally

John Lawrence wears a shirt celebrating Trump's inauguration earlier this year while dancing and waiting for the president to arrive in Youngstown, Ohio, on Tuesday night

The building, used mostly for hockey games, WWE fights and touring Disney shows, is itself emblematic of the heavily Democratic city's tortured relationship with Washington.

The late James Traficant represented Youngstown and parts of surrounding counties in Congress from 1985 until 2002, when he was expelled following convictions for taking bribes, racketeering and filing false tax returns.

But the disgraced Traficant, known for his comical wild-animal hairdo, was a reliable procurer of pork for his constituents even as he lined his own pockets.

Two years before he began his seven-year prison term, Traficant secured a $26 million Housing and urban Development grant for his city – money that was used to build Covelli.

It opened in 2005 while he was incarcerated in Allenwood, Pennsylvania – refusing to take visitors and attracting little public support other than a fundraising drive by the white supremacist David Duke.

Trump campaigned hard in northeastern Ohio last year, losing Youngstown's Mahoning County to Hillary Clinton by three points but improving dramatically on Mitt Romney's 30-point pasting in 2012.

Trump's visit to the town was not all smooth sailing, as he was also met by protesters in Youngstown. Pictured is one of the people rallying against the president

Protesters speak out against US President Donald J. Trump before the president arrived at a 'Make America Great Again' rally at the Covelli Centre in Youngstown

Jim Gargan of Akron, Ohio carries signs of protest against Trump before the president arrived in Youngstown for his campaign-style rally on Tuesday

Displaced from jobs and watching their families become casualties of an opioid drug epidemic, voters in depressed rust-belt cities like Youngstown flocked to the brash Republican.

In the end Clinton's built-in advantage in the Buckeye State's urban centers could not withstand the charge and Trump beat her statewide by eight points.

The president will need to repeat that performance in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin if he wants a second term in office.

Youngstown's unemployment still runs above the national average.

The city's Democratic mayor told CNN this week that Trump's reputation as a bare-knuckle political fighter has attracted fans from across the aisle.

'No matter how wild I may think the past six months have been,' Mayor John McNally said, 'no matter the tweet storm that went out this morning on a variety of subjects, I think the people in Youngstown and Mahoning County and Trumbull County really appreciate the President's no-holds-barred mentality toward those who he thinks oppose him.'

A protester carries a sign expressing dissatisfaction with Donald Trump ahead of his visit to Youngstown, Ohio, on Tuesday

Protesters are seen chanting ahead of Trump's visit to Youngstown, Ohio, on Tuesday night for a campaign-style event

Tuesday began with a chaotic staff explosion at the White House as newly minted communications director Anthony Scaramucci threatened to fire 'everyone' under his command if press leaks didn't stop.

Michael Short, an aide tied to outgoing press secretary Sean Spicer, found himself without a chair when Scaramucci's first scolding record stopped playing.

Trump's day in Washington ended with a step onto Marine One after holding a press conference with his Lebanese counterpart – just after Senate Republicans delivered an interim victory on health care legislation.

'We had two Republicans that went against us, which is very sad, I think,' Trump said in the Rose Garden at the White House.

'It's very, very sad – for them.'

After Vice President Mike Pence cast a tiebreaking vote in the procedural Obamacare standoff, Senator John McCain strode to the floor, his 80-year-old forehead still showing the stitched and smarting evidence of brain tumor surgery.

A visibly irritated McCain railed against the dysfunctional partisanship he has watched for decades from his Senate office – and spent the last week observing from a hospital bed.

Donald Trump listens to a Air Force Airmen at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport after landing on Tuesday afternoon

Senator John McCain walks to the senate floor to a vote on the motion to proceed on President Trump's effort to repeal and replace Obamacare

'I hope we can again rely on humility on our need to cooperate, on our dependence on each other, learn how to trust each other again, and by so doing better serve the people who elected us,' he said.

'Stop listening to the bombastic loud mouths on the radio, television and internet. To hell with them! They don't want anything done for the public good. Our incapacity is their livelihood. Let's trust each other.'

Lost in the shuffle was a sotry that captivated Washington a day earlier, as the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner sat with House Intelligence Committee staffers to explain his pre-inaugural contacts with Russian nationals.

Monday's Kushner debriefing, on the Senate side of the U.S. Capitol, was the only show in town. By Tuesday it was a footnote.

But the saga over Jeff Sessions' job security was still gathering steam.

The president threw shade in the direction of the Justice Department for a third straight day, saying he was 'disappointed' in his attorney general for recusing himself from Russia-related probes shortly after taking office.

'I'm very disappointed with the attorney general,' he said. 'But we will see what happens. Time will tell.'

By nightfall Sessions was signaling a new level of urgency in the administration's effort to force so-called 'sanctuary cities' into submission by choking off funds to municipalities that shield illegal immigrants from federal agents.

But the media circus got a new blood transfusion: The House of Representatives passed a new anti-Moscow sanctions bill with a veto-proof majority while Air Force One cruised somewhere over Pennsylvania.

The measure will tie Trump's hands, prohibiting him from easing restrictions put in place against Russian oligarchs and Moscow bankers.